Approximately ten seconds in, Donkey tells Shrek that instead of having to go on a mission to save a princess, he should’ve just done “ogre stuff” to get rid of the creatures invading his property. Shrek responds with intense sarcasm and gory examples of what “ogre stuff” might be. In the next line, “For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think,” Shrek defends the ogre stereotypes, but is also self conscious about them. This is a medium shot which gets closer and more personal to Shrek and Donkey’s conversation. The shot stresses this part of the scene’s use of pathos to persuade the audience through the true anger in Shrek. Donkey assumed that Shrek would’ve just killed all the creatures on his property because ogres are known to be dangerous, but Shrek informs the audience that ogres are more complex than just the stereotypes.
Author: ARIA MALOVANY
Aria Malovany Reading Response 10
- Doing the exhaustive documentation before reflecting on my text can help me create an argument because I was able to lie out all my information first, and then make claims off of the details. In going through my text and writing down everything I can think of, I can be more clear in choosing what to argue when having all the information first, rather than deciding as the initial information is being written down. Doing the exhaustive documentation first can make choosing an argument harder since one might forget the points they think of when explaining the details of the text. If the exhaustive documentation and reflecting the text were done at the same time, maybe some points would be made in the moment as the information is being absorbed, rather than thinking of arguments after the details have been written down already.
2. “We’ve run out of ways to weaponize sadness, and so it becomes an actual weapon. A buffet of sad and bitter songs rains down from the pop charts for years, keeping us tethered to whatever sadness we could dress ourselves in when nothing else fits, “ (Abdurraqib, 26). The subject here, Carly Rae Jespsen, writes and performs sad music as a method of relatability to her fans. While fans may not necessarily be sad, the sadness in her songs brings this emotion to life. This matters when you are a public figure trying to influence your audience. In Carly Rae Jepsen’s approach, she helps her fans connect to her music through enlivening sadness and loss, which a big percentage of the audience may be going through already.
Abdurraqib’s subject, Future, wrote an album about heartbreak and what failure and loss has turned him into. He does a lot of drugs to run away from his grief and make him lose track of time. This is a perfect comparison to the death of Abdurraqib’s mother. “All of them ruminate on the same handful of emotions., revealed in the same methods of darkness and escape. I guess, when you work so hard to dodge the long arms of grief, it is impossible to allow all grief stages to move through you,” (Abdurraqib, 272). Abdurraqib explains that when he and Future attempted to run away from grief, it needed more time to settle within them which ultimately made the grieving process longer.
Aria Malovany Reading Response 9
- “This is all about a convenient suspension of disbelief,” (Coates, 127) Coates talks about certain historical connections between “First Class,” which takes place in 1962, what the reality was like in 1962, and how the movie portrays otherwise. Details about historical context were rendered, which Coates sees happen frequently. I think he focuses on this because it persuades his audience to see past the plotline and hopefully utilize his ideas to be able to notice something like this in the future. Once something is portrayed one way, people can convince themselves it is portrayed another, which causes different views of what that something actually is.
2. In Parkin’s analysis, he constantly repeats the fact that “No Man’s Sky” has infinite content. He talks a lot about how this game can go on for ever and ever and that players couldn’t stumble upon each other in the game because of how vast the space is. He contrasts the fact that there’s endless content with a strand, “its most memorable trick is to make the player feel impossibly small, lonely, and lost.” (Parkin, 130) This contrast matters because as many times as he repeats the fact that the game is exciting and endless, this isn’t completely beneficial for the player. The vastness and lack of social aspect in the game will make the player feel so small in this huge universe that can now be explored. It is important that the three words, small, lonely, and lost, were grouped together since that is how one would feel if they were truly exploring space by themselves. This can also act as an anomaly as people can now be alone in their own universes and make discoveries which only they can see.
Aria Malovany- Something in My Home
When I moved into my new apartment in New York, my grandmother asked what I wanted as a housewarming gift. The first thing that came to mind was an automatic ice machine, as the freezer that came in the apartment didn’t make ice. After we went to get it and I set it up, I was fascinated. Inside the machine, I saw about six or seven metal coils. Those coils gather water around them and freeze the water into bullet shaped ice with holes through the middle of each piece. Once the ice is in its full form, it gets dispensed onto a little tray that pushes the ice into a bucket at the front of the machine. From there, the bucket fills up and I use the scooper that came with the machine to take a cups-worth.
Although uncommon, I chew on ice all the time and find it super refreshing, even though I know it’s bad for my teeth. This all started once I began loving iced coffee, and would eat the leftover ice from the cup. Ever since, it’s been a staple in my life. I find that the consistency of the this ice is softer, more of a snow cone texture rather than a solid rock hard ice cube. Once I began playing with the machine, I figured out that there are two settings, small and large. Although the machine needs to frequently be filled with water as ice is being made every a few minutes, it is well worth that wait as it exhilarates every drink, even water. To me, the best part is finishing the drink and having leftover flavored ice to eat. It also takes up a lot of counter space when I don’t have much to begin with, but again, it’s worth it.
Aria Malovany Reading Response 8
- ““a nigger paints a flower it becomes a slavery flower, flower de Amistad,” thereby intimating that any relationship between the white viewer and the black artist immediately becomes one between white persons and black property, (Rankine, 125).” This quote struck me because of the harshness in its words. It is unfair to see a black artist and white viewer categorized in a people/property relationship. This line captured my attention but relates contextually to the arguments being made in the excerpt. Discrimination is unfortunately still alive which is why I could also understand where he’s coming from.
- Pathos- “It is a public event being watched in homes across the world. In any case, it is difficult not to think that if Serena lost context by abandoning all rules of civility, it could be because her body, trapped in a racial imaginary, trapped in disbelief—code for being black in America—is being governed not by the tennis match she is participating in but by a collapsed relationship that had promised to play by the rules. Perhaps this is how racism feels no matter the context—randomly the rules everyone else gets to play by no longer apply to you, and to call this out by calling out “I swear to God!” is to be called insane, crass, crazy. Bad sportsmanship.” (123) This moment in Rankine’s excerpt sparked upset and sympathy towards Serena. Discrimination is not okay and it is horrible that she had to go through what she did because of the color of her skin. Matches are televised and it’s embarrassing for her to have to deal with that in front of tons of people.
Logos- “Yes, and who can turn away? Serena is not running out of breath. Despite all her understanding, she continues to serve up aces while smashing rackets and fraying hems. In the 2012 Olympics she brought home two of the three gold medals the Americans would win in tennis. (124)” This quote provides factual information about Serena’s wins and how despite her challenges, she emerged successful in winning 2 gold medals.
- One night, my friend and I decided to tape our mouths shut and see if we can communicate without speaking. We began by using duct tape and sealed our mouths shut. We tried to incorporate some prior spotty sign language knowledge, but it didn’t do much. We were mostly using hand gestures and movements to explain what we wanted to say. It felt weird to not be able to express myself by talking, but it was an interesting experience to try and speak through motion and gestures. Nobody saw us do this but I’m sure it would’ve looked pretty odd from an outsider perspective.
Aria Malovany Reading Response 7
- Ethos- “While attending his synagogue on holidays, I have to dress ultra-modestly, as “the cantor’s granddaughter.” In my pre-teen years, this was very hard for me as I wanted to dress how I wanted, but I’ve learned to respect it, and actually don’t mind it at all anymore.” This provides credibility and honesty to my readers about my experience of a transition to a less passive observant environment. I explained how my dress code changed, and I didn’t like it at one point, but grew to respect it. This may influence my reader to begin feeling more comfortable within something they might dislike or disrespect.
Pathos- “War had begun and my American self was beyond lost in the chaos. I didn’t really know what was going on until I saw a group of my friends in the shelter hysterically sobbing and saying, ‘war has just broken out.”’ I think I portrayed my emotions of the war outbreak I experienced in Israel by illustrating to my readers how chaotic and nerve wracking it was. I included the scene where my friends were sobbing in the shelter which was very emotional and scary, and I think my readers can feel that as well.
Logos- “But as I matured, antisemitism started to increase, as did the dangers of being a Jew. In the last year alone, antisemitism has gone up over 85%.” In this line from my essay, I used a statistical fact about the rise of antisemitism and dangers of being outwardly Jewish globally
2. Shrek and Donkey are walking through a field of sunflowers at the beginning of their journey to save the princess from the top of a tower. They accepted the task of fighting a dragon and bringing the princess to the king, Lord Farquad, so that Shrek can get his swamp back from the fairy tale creatures who overtook his land, which was ordered by the king. Donkey tells Shrek he should’ve done stereotypical “oger stuff” to get the creatures off his land instead of having to fight the dragon and save the princess. Shrek responds by explaining how there is more to ogres than people think. He says that ogres are like onions because ogres have layers, just like onions have layers. Donkey then says that not everybody likes onions.
3. I noticed how well I remembered this scene when I was writing it down. Shrek is one of the movies that I can repeat verbatim when watching. I didn’t realize I would be able to vividly write down the scene when it popped into my head. I definitely connected with my childhood memories when I wrote out this scene.
Aria Malovany- Week 6
In my neighborhood during the fall and winter months, an outdoor ice skating rink is opened. It is located in a state park called Bear Mountain. The rink covers the whole ground where it’s built. Since it’s on a mountain, there is beautiful scenery of the fall and winter seasons surrounding the rink. There is also a cabin close by which holds the rental skates and has hot chocolate machines for after skating.
The whole experience provides a feeling of comfort and fun seasonal exposure. The string lights which hang around the circumference of the rink exhilarate the space and provide a bit of warmth while outside in the cold weather and ice skating. Like the rink, anything can pull you in and and excite your thoughts. If you allow and open yourself to think within everyday encounters, they will start demanding your attention back and keep your brain thinking and alive. Whenever my friends and I come here, we always say, “we feel the most alive in this ice rink.” And this is true, as it gives off an original but warm and invigorating feeling.
In Rankine’s excerpt, she quoted Serena Williams, “I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background,” (Rankine, 120). I decided to add ethos and a quote for credibility to my readers when they might be thinking of other peoples perspectives of the rink, not just mine. By including the quote of what my friends feel at the rink as well, I believe the credibility concerning my claims about the magnificence of the ice rink was increased.
Aria Malovany Literacy Narrative Scene
I’ve always struggled with the constant wonder of how people view me. With just one glance, you would see an average teenage American girl. But that’s just one part of me. The other is a born and observant Modern Orthodox Jew. My father grew up religious, but my mother did not. Once they got married, they decided to become Modern Orthodox and raise my siblings and I religiously. Growing up, I was obviously habituated to Judaism and always thoroughly enjoyed it. Shabbat and holidays have always brought me so much happiness. I was actually born on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which automatically makes it my favorite of the holiday’s.
Working in the dual curriculum of my elementary and high school years got difficult at times. My 8:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m. days consisted of four Judaic classes and four secular classes, sometimes more. The workload from nine to ten different classes consistently got extremely overwhelming, but that never really mattered to me. What mattered was that I got to go to this school everyday, surrounded by people who are just like me that I’ve known my whole life, in an environment I’m so comfortable in, to learn all about the religion I was born into and more.
I have never really left the Modern Orthodox bubble that I was so nuzzled into for the first eighteen years of my life. But now that I’ve emerged from that particular world and moved to New York City for college, how will I balance the Judaism I know and love with living in a new and fairly more secular environment without the automacy and nature of my religion surrounding me all the time?
Aria Malovany Reading Response 6
- “That was the way I started copying what eventually became the entire dictionary,” (Malcolm X, 3). This quote stood out to me because I couldn’t even fathom how one could do this. It got me thinking about the mental capacity it takes for one to absorb all of that information. It lingered in my mind and intrigued me because I can’t imagine learning/knowing every word in any given language. This suggests to me that his personal relationship to written literacy grew tremendously. The fact that he was imprisoned but took the opportunity to learn every word in a language is a huge step towards a good relationship with him and his literacy.
- I want to imitate how Liao illustrates and describes in her writing. When I read Liao’s piece, I noticed that she used prominent descriptions and details that allowed her narrative to stick with me. I want to be able to create descriptions that help my reader understand my story’s context. Like Liao, I want to explain clearly to my reader what it’s like to live between two worlds.
Aria Malovany Reading Response 5
- “…language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power. It is the most vivid and crucial key to identify: It reveals the private identity, and connects one with, or divorces one from, the larger, public, or communal identity,” (Baldwin, 1). Baldwin is saying here that language is identity. Without language, nobody would be able to articulate. If Black English isn’t accepted as a language, then why is any language accepted? He answers this at the end of his piece by explaining that the disapproval of Black English is actually derived from the white peoples’ despise of the black community, not from the language itself. Black English emerged from a significant time in black history and should have every right to be acknowledged just like every other language in existence. Translanguaging is incorporated into Balwin’s piece when he explained the necessary creation of Black English by slaves from around the world who couldn’t communicate with one another. They had to use all of their language resources to communicate with each other. I see Anzaldua exploring the ideas of Belmihoub and Corcoran. She wanted to be able to speak and write billinguity, but always had a problem with it. In her literacy narrative, she does switch between languages, ultimately practicing translanguaging. “…the term translanguaging into the conversation…hopes to represent how bilinguals use all of their language resources in order to communicate in a variety of different circumstances, (Belmihoub and Corcoran, 55)”
- “Before you up and start reading the paper, take a minute (alright, thirty seconds) to make a mental checklist about the circumstances of the writing, the context,” (Straub, 35). I think this is a very helpful piece of advice for proofreading purposes. It’s always good to take a step back from writing and make sure your flow, context, and structure make sense. When a writer puts themselves in the shoes of a reader, proofreading will be more successful. I wish my previous teacher would’ve given more context to his comments instead of two word responses. Straub says that comments should be written out in full statements, not shorthand and vague like I have experienced. It would be helpful so that I can clearly see where I made an error so that I won’t do it again in the future. The more feedback, the better.